Michael A. Rea received his PhD degree in Biochemistry from Indiana University in 1979, followed by postdoctoral work at the Institute for Psychiatric Research and the Max Planck Institute for Reproductive Medicine. He is currently a tenured Professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Houston. During the past 35 years, Dr Rea has conducted basic research in the Neurosciences, with a focus on Circadian Neurobiology. Prior to joining the faculty at UH, Dr Rea conducted basic neuroscience research as a civilian scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he rose to the rank of GS-15. At AFRL, Dr Rea served as the founding Director of the Biological Rhythms and Integrative Neuroscience (BRAIN) Research Institute, and was instrumental in the establishment of a national research program in Chronobiology, funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. In 2001, he joined VisiGen Biotechnologies as "Founder come lately", where he supervised the development of the single molecule detection technology until the company was acquired by Life Technologies in 2008. He is currently Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Metabocentric Biotechnologies, Inc., as well as President of Forest Sun, Inc., a real estate investment company. Dr Rea has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles and technology reports, and is co-inventor on two patents.